Saturday, August 30, 2008

One Main Reason I Am Back

I can bet that there is surely no other better place to find a place which offers such a variety of food but Malaysia. I have seen enough of sushi, ramen, udon, yakisoba, yakiniku in Japan, that the only thing that came to my mind since I landed here roughly two weeks ago is to fill my stomach with as much local delicacies as possible. I feel guilty as I say tis, but who cares. Going for a thirty-minute jog daily should balance up everything. So here are what I have feasted on so far since I came back, and I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I am going to have.

You guys who are still in Japan, sorry lah. You will get all this when you are back the next time, okay?

Curry wantan mee.

I had this when I went down to KL last week and it was actually my first time trying this type of wantan mee. Previously, I only have the common one, which is mixed with dark soy sauce and char siew. Basically, they just replace the dark soy sauce and pour curry and a few piece of chicken on top of the noodle. It is not the best food I have tasted so far, but it is not bad either. Thank you Kae Vin for this meal.

Tosai and roti canai.

I seriously cannot comprehend why they have to increase the price of tosai, roti canai and chapati so drastically nowadays. One piece of tosai or roti canai in Taiping cost RM1. When I was back eight months ago, it was 80 cents. Ain't that too much? I will not do the calculations here, but common sense tells you that you don't use as much flour for a single piece of roti canai, right? I wonder how much a piece of roti canai will cost the next time I am back.

Nasi lemak.

Who can separate nasi lemak with we Malaysians? The one I had was not wrapped in banana leaves, because it is quite rare to find nasi lemak which is sold in banana leaves nowadays. This one only cost 70 cents, and that is why you don't see any groundnuts or boiled eggs coming together. The mak cik and pak cik selling nasi lemak are actually, smarter than the roti canai mamak. They do not increase the price of their nasi lemak, but they cut down the ingredients in every packet of nasi lemak.

Cendol.

To be honest, the cendol you can get here in Taiping will never match the one I had tasted in Penang Road. Although it cost slightly more, I think it is worth it because I love the green strips of cendol, which is not too soft nor hard, just alright. Speaking of cendol, the famous Malaccan durian cendol is the only other one which I think can match Penang's cendol.

Pasembor.

Well, to those Malaccans out there, I know you guys refer this as rojak, but as far as I know, the correct name for this delicacy would be pasembor. Quite a number of my friends who are not from Taiping often ask me what the fish pasembor is before this. Well, it is a mixture of flour fritters, bean sprout, fried tofu, cucumber, turnips, boiled eggs, all cut into small pieces and later, a type of gravy made of groundnuts, called kuah kacang is poured on top of it.

Whenever I am back, my mum will be the busiest person in the kitchen. I am second busiest.

Bak kien. Will this make my blog a non-halal blog?

Ikan keli (catfish) asam pedas.

Ikan merah (red fish? haha!)

Pajeri nanas.

It may no longer the fruit season anymore, nevertheless I managed to tried on some of the local fruits which I have longed for so much.

Cempedak - be it raw or fried ones, I just love them a lot.

Even if there are extra worms to add more flavour to it.

Custard-apples, but I call it nona more often than not.

Rambutan. Japanese give it a special name; they call rambutan the hairiest fruit ever.

Duku. Recently, I managed to differentiate duku, langsat and rambai, although all three of them look similar.

Shorty banana, planted by my grandma. Me of course, didn't eat these as they are still green.